Suffolk picked up the pieces from its tornado three years ago

SUFFOLK — As Phyllis Murphy and two friends huddled in the bathroom of Driver's Harmony House Antiques, the twister ripped away the roof, knocked out two side walls and tossed her daughter, Lee Murphy, into the air like a ragdoll.

Across town, in a neighborhood outside downtown Suffolk, Larry Herrin crouched down on the floor of a pickup truck. The fierce wind lifted the truck into the air several times before it finally settled.

The wave of destruction that hit Suffolk almost three years ago — April 28, 2008 — lasted only seconds. Although no one was killed, the tornados that blew across the city late that afternoon left a swathe of destruction: 44 homes and three businesses, including a newly opened shopping center, destroyed in the Hillpoint Farms, Burnett's Mill and Sadler Heights neighborhoods and the village of Driver. The tornado injured hundreds and damaged 360 homes and businesses, causing nearly $40 million in property losses and damages, according to city officials.

With the anniversary of the Suffolk tornado fast approaching storm victims in Suffolk have a message of hope for those who suffered the string of deadly tornados April 16 in Isle of Wight, Gloucester and Middlesex counties.

"Keep the faith … and know that you are more resilient than you realize," said Gregory Parker, owner of Arthur's General Store in Driver. "Let your community help you."

The tornado wiped out his home, damaged the roof of his store and damaged or demolished six other rental properties his family owns in the tiny northern Suffolk crossroads of Driver. The tornado also flattened the Driver Variety Store, a shop that his brother Craig Parker ran for generations. That shop has reopened across the street in another storefront the family owns.

The devastation in Gloucester and Middlesex must seem overwhelming at first, particularly for those people who lost a friend or family member, said Murphy. Herrin, whose Burnett's Mill home was heavily damaged by the tornado, says many of the recent tornado victims are still probably still in shock, although they may not realize it.

While Suffolk's tornado was devastating, both Murphy and Parker stressed that it isn't comparable to those that hit Gloucester and Deltaville last weekend.

"I survived. My daughter and my cats survived," said Murphy, stroking her cat, Isabelle, inside her rebuilt antique store last week. "What happened in Suffolk was not a tragedy because we're all here to tell about it."

The rebuilding process — or at least, the initial cleanup process — was a community effort that extended far beyond Suffolk's boundaries. For days, even weeks after the tornado, volunteers from across Hampton Roads and beyond converged on the tornado-struck communities, armed with chainsaws, food and a desire to help strangers pick up the pieces of their lives.

"It was an amazing outpouring of help from all kinds of people," Herrin said. "It was incredible to see congregations of churches that don't necessarily share the same religious beliefs come together to help out the community.

"And while people in the neighborhood knew one another before, I think the tornado made everyone in our community a lot closer."

Strong faith and persistence becomes even more important once the influx of volunteers and emergency workers go home, and life returns to its normal routine for the rest of the city, Murphy said. For people whose homes were damaged, it becomes a matter of dealing with insurance claims, banks and contractors.

"You have to know what's going on, know you are going to get through it and know it's going to get better," said Murphy, who spent most of the year it took her contractor to rebuild her two-story antique shop watching the process. Most days, Murphy could be found sitting in a recliner, under a tent on the property, overseeing the contractor's work.

"I was going to stay here until they drove the last nail," Murphy said. The contractor initially told her the work would take 90 days; it ended up taking 13 months because he found black mold and asbestos in the 1939 building once reconstruction began.

When it comes to contractors, Murphy said she learned the importance of hiring someone you trust (she interviewed six commercial contractors before making a decision), getting a contract in writing and for the property owner to monitor progress frequently.

Today, Freedom Plaza, the shopping center that was leveled during the tornado, has been rebuilt. The tarp-covered rooftops that once scattered the landscape are gone; all but a handful of people have rebuilt their homes.

A few tangible signs of the tornado remain if you know where to look. The cracked upper window at Arthur's is still held together with masking tape, and if you dig through the flower beds outside Harmony House, you're likely to find shards of Roseville pottery or antique crystal destroyed by the twister.

The biggest change is in the perspective of those who lived through it, said Herrin.

"It changed my life," said Herrin, who sold his home in Suffolk and moved to Richmond last month. "It's made me more thankful for what I have and the people in my life … and made me realize that life is not about material items. Stuff is just stuff and it can be replaced."

A massive storm hit Hampton Roads April 16, spawning tornadoes. Rural areas in the Gloucester and Isle of Wight areas were especially hard hit. Three people in Gloucester died in the storm, and a tornado tore a path through Page Middle School, destroying much of the building. Many homes were...

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